SMS Marketing For The Healthcare Industry

The Healthcare Industry plays an important role in society , immediate communication is essential between the provider and the patient, what better way to communicate with your patients than through SMS Messaging . This is a personal and effective tool that allows you to build long term relationships with your patients while at the same time keeping patients satisfaction levels high.

SMS Marketing can benefit any business especially Healthcare providers like Doctors,Hospitals, Dentists, Chiropractors, Massage Therapists , Physiotherapists just to name a few. It is often difficult and time consuming trying to communicate with every patient regarding appointments, clinic opening hours, news alerts all at the one time. SMS Messaging will help save your staff time and your clinic money getting the message directly into the hands of your patients in real time. SMS Can be used in many different ways :

Appointment Reminders

Missed appointments are one of the biggest issues for most clinics, this can affect your clinic financially as patients are paying customers . SMS Messaging is an effective way to communicate with your patients simply by sending personal appointment reminders, this will help eliminate no-shows allowing staff to fill these appointments dedicating this time for other patients that would benefit from it. The appointment reminders can be scheduled in advance saving time allowing staff to focus on other areas of the business.

Opening and Closing Hours

During special occasions such as Christmas and Bank Holidays opening and closing hours are usually somewhat different than the normal 9-5 working day . SMS Messaging is a great way to communicate with your patients, you can simply send a bulk message to all patients informing them about new opening and closing hours.

Announcements

Another Great way SMS Messaging can be used for your clinic is to make announcements regarding the flu vaccine during flu season, hepatitis alerts , swine flu alerts etc. This will keep your patients informed at all times making sure they’re not missing out on anything important.

Special Offers/ Promotions

If you run a massage clinic , physiotherapy clinic or dental practice just to name a few and you are running a special offer or promotion it is important to make sure that all of your patients are aware of this. How do you do this ? Its as easy as sending a bulk text message to your patients informing them of your special offer/ promotion . The main advantage of sending out a bulk text message is that these are people who want to hear from you and you are certain that you are targeting the right audience within minutes. SMS Marketing also allows you to attract new customers to your business by offering something of value to them , this will ensure that they will opt in to your SMS Marketing List.

Check -Ups

Your health is very important , it is essential to go to your doctor or dentist every six months just for a check-up. Its not often that patients will remember this therefore sending an automated SMS Messages will remind your patients that they are due a check-up , this is also a great way to drive business for your clinic.

Weekly Health Tips

Sending weekly health tips to your patients is a great way to help build a strong relationship. SMS Messages are a personal form of communication keeping your clinic in the minds of your patients on a regular basis.

Test results

You will often find in a lot of Healthcare clinics patients ringing up to see if their test results are back , this can take up a lot of unnecessary time. SMS Messaging can help any clinic manage this by sending out a text message to these patients. Its a win-win situation where both patients and healthcare providers are happy.

It is important to remain data compliant and build an SMS Database before using SMS Messaging as a form of communication with your patients. SMS Marketing requires the permission from the patient to be contacted via SMS. Here are a few ways that will help your clinic build a strong database of clients.

By personally asking the patient face to face during an appointment or at the reception desk to sign up for SMS Marketing alerts

Offer a Sign up for SMS Alerts on all forms and on the clinics webpage

Create a keyword with a call-to-action inviting patients to Opt In to your SMS Marketing Alerts

Send a letter out to all of your patients explaining that you would now like to contact them via SMS and ask them to return this to the clinic with their consent

Promote the new SMS Alert System around the clinic by putting up posters that are in sight and easy to see

The Waiting Area in every clinic is a perfect way to get peoples attention , simply have signs and leaflets lying around for all patients to take notice of

SMS Marketing is an ideal way to communicate with patients in real time , it will help save time and cut back on costs for the clinic, your staff will not be on the phone confirming appointments or having to send letters to all patients. SMS Messaging will also help generate word of mouth and create awareness within the community .The main advantage of using SMS Messaging is that you can Guarantee that the message will reach your patients no matter where they are .

For More information on how you can make the best of SMS Marketing for your clinic contact NeonSMS Today on +353 21 2430700 or visit www.neonsms.ie

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About Orla

Orla Forrest is the Business Development Executive for NeonSMS. Orla has over 10 years experience in the Technology and Telecommunications industry and has been with NeonSMS since 2011.

One Response to SMS Marketing For The Healthcare Industry

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Neon Solutions was founded in 2003 when we developed our scalable internet gateway service. Our service is based on open source technologies which allow us to solve messaging issues and provide our clients with industry leading mobile communication interfaces and infrastructure. Read More...